It is well known that many persons drown every year, especially children who are subject to accidentally falling into relatively deep water where they cannot be located quickly enough to be rescued and revived. Accidental drownings often occur during family picnics or similar outings near a body of water such as a lake, pond or river, where young children who are poor or inexperienced swimmers fall into the water and suddenly disappear without any visible trace. Even experienced swimmers who are fishermen, boating enthusiasts or scuba divers may fall overboard and be subjected to the sudden shock of cold water which could cause unconsciousness so that they cannot swim but instead sink down into the water. Workers on bridges or waterfront structures may be injured or knocked unconscious just before falling into the water so as to be unable to save themselves.
These unfortunate circumstances arise all to frequently, and although the best safety precaution is to wear a buoyant safety vest or the like, such garments are relatively expensive and interfere with normal activities so that many persons will not wear them. A few safety devices have been proposed for use by swimmers or bathers where a buoy is releasably attached to a holder worn on the body of the person in the water, the buoy preferably being released by the victim when in fear of drowning. Two such devices were disclosed almost 50 years ago by Neal, U.S. Pat. No. 1,935,229 (1933) and Carlbeck, U.S. Pat. No. 1,955,053 (1934), but require relatively complex and expensive structures making it difficult to encourage their purchase and use.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a simple, inexpensive and unobtrusive safety device which can be readily attached to a potential drowning victim, including small children, through an armband or waist belt. The device may be worn in the water and includes an actuator allowing for the wearer to manually activate the device when required. The device is to be made from readily available parts to be affordable, readily useable and even reusable. Due to its small size and lightness in weight, the device can be affixed within an armband, or waist band or the like where it will not interfere with a person's normal activities while submerged in the water.